Andrew Sullivan Is an IdiotBut you knew that already.
Get this bit:
TWO KATRINAS REVISITED: I sloppily wrote yesterday that we are paying for two Katrinas a year on interest "on the Bush-Republican deficit." I should have written on interest "on the national debt inflated by the Bush-Republican deficit." Bush is not responsible for the entire national debt he inherited, just for about $1.5 trillion that he has added. That $1.5 trillion is, of course, a record amount in a mere five years (not counting the deficits racked up under Reagan). But the interest on that alone isn't two Katrinas' worth. My bad. Under Clinton, of course, we were actually paying back the debt. But that was when we had fiscal conservatives running the government.Question: When were interest payments on the federal debt at their peak?
Answer: In 1997, during the Clinton Administration.
Here's
the net interest paid by the US government by year (Millions):
1994: $202.9
1995: $232.1
1996: $241.1
1997: $244.0
1998: $241.1
1999: $229.8
2000: $222.9
2001: $206.2
2002: $170.9
2003: $153.1
2004: $160.2
As you can see, the amount of interest paid has dropped dramatically under Bush. Andrew also fallaciously claims that Bush's deficits are a record; but that's unadjusted for inflation. The Reagan-era deficits were much higher adjusted for inflation (or as a percentage of GDP) than the current ones. Of course, Andrew still loves Reagan, so you gotta wonder if it's fiscal insanity that has brought him to this point, or if it's just gay marriage.
